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Amid fanfare, Larry King signs off

Fred Armisen (right) impersonates King on the final episode of 'Larry King Live.' | POLITICO Screengrab
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California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger used his appearance to proclaim Dec. 16 Larry King Day in the Golden State, and Clinton spoke from Arkansas (with a terrible delay that Maher poked fun at) about his 29 appearances on the show, and even fielded questions from King about the tax bill that Obama is prepared to sign into law. After all, it isn’t over until it’s over — and King still had a few questions to ask.

But the other titans of media who appeared on the final broadcast only wanted to say “thank you” to King and recall the good old days. Donald Trump, Regis Philbin and Suze Orman came on together, with Philbin singing a Frank Sinatra tune for King and Trump and his blond bouffant proclaiming, “Nobody ever did it better.”

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The following group of media stars to appear included Sawyer, Brian Williams, Walters and Katie Couric. “We are your protégés, your groupies, your pips,” said Sawyer, as the group paid homage to King. They presented him with more custom-made red suspenders, these with King’s name running down each side, and Couric recited a poem “bemoaning the fact that you’re leaving your home.”

Next came a letter from a man committed to a higher power — the Rev. Billy Graham, and a short visit from Dr. Phil.

Finally, King’s family joined him. His wife, Shawn, and two sons, Chance and Cannon, (who did a very good impression of his father, complete with raspy voice) chatted with Anderson Cooper, who told King that his father would have been very proud of him. “You’ve rejoiced in the blessings of this world,” Cooper said.

The icing on the sendoff cake: Tony Bennett streamed in via video with a performance. Echoing the sentiment Maher used to open the program, “This is not Larry’s funeral,” Bennett sang, “The Best Is Yet to Come.”

And then, to remind viewers — and perhaps King, too — that there is life after holding down the fort at an eponymous news program for 25 years, Maher said, “This is the end of the show, not the end of a man.” But certainly, it was the end of an era.

King was the male Barbra Walters with his escalator interviews, no sweat. He was incapable of probing just gushing and buddying up to celebs pimping their latest product, has beens and freaks that would go anywhere (a sort of rarefied Jerrry Springer) Larry got his start in Florida pitching batting practice to Major League Stars in Home Run Derby then the softballer took it to the airwaves and served up even easier stuff in his "scintillating" interviews. He was more of a PR man, he would give you exposure but never dig deep. He was a superstar in a cool medium. Figures. Happy trails you over inflated bore-king of talk tedium.

Larry King is old. How old, you ask? Well, his Teleprompter screen is written in cuneiform. He once had Mary Todd Lincoln on his show and then forgot who she was. And did you know the first sentence Anderson Cooper ever spoke was a joke about how old Larry King is?

But any time the subject of retirement has come up, the only thing King -- who is 76, in point of fact -- had to do was point to the ratings. Even though his show was not even close to competitive with Hannity & Colmes on Fox News, Larry King Live was always CNN's bedrock prime-time franchise, drawing viewers, advertisers and newsmakers. All the other trouble spots in the network's schedule made finding a successor for King a distinctly low priority.

That could change soon. In the first quarter of 2010, Larry King Live's audience dropped an astonishing 43% -- from 1.34 million viewers last year to 771,000 this year. King was far from alone in taking a nosedive. Across its prime-time schedule, CNN's ratings were down 39% among total viewers and 42% in the demographic that most determines ad spending, adults aged 25 to 54.

Larry King Live’s final telecast averaged 530,000 adults 25-54 and 2.24 million total viewers. The finale added over 1.7 million viewers from the week’s Monday episode which had 458,000 total viewers and more than doubled Wednesday’s 935,000. King still lost to Hannity with adults 25-54 at 9pm, but won the hour with total viewers.

YEONPYEONG, South Korea (Reuters) – South Korea will go ahead with live firing drills from a disputed island on Monday, local media said, despite threats of attack by Pyongyang and pressure from Russia and China to cancel the exercise.

The drills were delayed from the weekend by bad weather, giving time for an emergency U.N. Security Council meeting to try to calm tensions. But the meeting ended without agreement after more than eight hours of talks, with the five big powers split on whether to publicly blame North Korea for the crisis.

The meeting may resume on Monday but Susan Rice, the U.S. ambassador to the U.N., said disagreements between the major powers were "unlikely to be bridged."

The last time Seoul conducted live firing drills from Yeonpyeong close to the disputed maritime border off the west coast of the peninsula, Pyongyang shelled the island, killing two civilians and two marines in the worst attack on South Korean territory since the Korean war ended in 1953.

North Korea warned last week that it would strike even harder if the latest drills went ahead. China and Russia have said the exercise should not go ahead, while the United States has backed South Korea's right to hold the drills.

The tension hit Korean markets when they opened on Monday, with the won falling more than one percent to a four-week low against the dollar and stocks also down one percent.

Pyongyang has raised an alert for artillery units along its west coast, Yonhap news agency said, quoting a South Korean government source.

Marines on Yeonpyeong ordered residents into air raid bunkers ahead of the expected start of the drill. Korean TV said residents of nearby islands were also told to take cover.

Both sides have said they will use force to defend what they say is their territory off the west coast, raising international concern that the standoff could quickly spiral out of control.

The 15 Security Council had met behind closed doors to try to agree on a statement that Russian U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said he hoped would send a "restraining signal" to both the North and the South.

Western envoys inside the meeting said the five permanent veto-wielding members were split over whether to blame North Korea for the crisis, as the United States, Britain, and France -- along with Japan -- demand, or to urge both sides to avoid acts that could deepen the crisis, as Russia and China want.

The Chinese, North Korea's staunchest supporters on the council, and Russians reject the idea of assigning blame to Pyongyang, the envoys told Reuters on condition of anonymity.

Both Communist China and North Korea have sensed weakness in the US Administration and have perpetrated aggression in response. What Democrat in our administration will agree with China, Russia, and North Korea that the South Koreans are to blame for the North Koreans threat of anihilation of the South? Is there a Democrat in the administration who stands with The American People in support of South korea and its democracy?

There was always a sound rationale for actual peace through strength, but now we have to pay to learn this lesson again. Because of the Democrats.

I deeply regret how America's mind became dependent on IT mass media bollocks especially TV "anchor" clowns. Why should this guy's opinion count so much to forge public opinion ? How sad to see a whole nation brainwashed over the years and asking for more ! King at least seemed well intentioned , polite and curious but a TV jockey clown all the same . There are many "anchor" who don't even deserve to be named and some of you guys watch and gobble their malarkey all the same. The very few times I watched such programs it lasted from 10 to 60 seconds ( King was the best ratio )